


in motion

by abaze



Category: Warframe
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Mild Language, Minor Injuries, Post-The War Within, Spoilers for The Second Dream, feat. angsty little tenno, most people dont know that warframes are actually all teenagers and some find this upsetting, non-binary characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-24 23:46:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14964539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abaze/pseuds/abaze
Summary: A New Loka operative accompanies a lone Warframe on what is supposed to be a simple reconnaissance mission. Things go badly, and the operative finds herself working with a creature of legend-- a child who holds the demons of the Void.Unashamedly self-indulgent reveal fic.





	in motion

**Author's Note:**

> warframe is a goldmine of rich lore and yall should be ashamed for not taking advantage of it. anyway heres a really self-indulgent fic where an operative finds out that all those cool space mercenaries are actually just weird kids. i started writing this literally so long ago (back when the war within had just come out) and i only just finished it, so i tried to make it compliant (relatively) to the new lore from the sacrifice but there's no spoilers for that. enjoy!

Naveen had never worked with a Warframe before. She knows of them, of course, having heard the news and the frantically whispered stories years ago, like fever gossip, of the Orokin angels come back to life. She remembers her father telling her stories as a child, stories of gold and crystal and cream, and the elite guards that stood at the gates of the Axi Empire with sheathed swords and silent breath.

"The Void's monsters," he'd recited with the amusement of an adult recalling something they knew to be myth, "fell upon the Golden Horn with their wicked knives and tempered guns, ripping apart their masters with the very claws the Orokin had bestowed upon them."

The day that the first hazy reports of an "Orokin-design organic frame" fell into the hands of Corpus spies marked a change in the modern age. Fearful and hopeful rumors alike hung heavy in the trade Relays, where colonists and merchants met to barter and plot under the guise of profit. Naveen coaxed the news out of a reluctant Steel Meridian operative, whose lips muttered of a rising power, a creature of the Void that shouldn't have been awakened.

Naveen made the decision to join a Syndicate on that day.

It was probably the fear, the tension that bubbled over and spilled from relay to relay, from system to system, as the first reports of Orokin angels raiding and looting and murdering slipped out of the hands of the Grineer and Corpus bases. Accounts of untouchable killing machines, armed to the teeth and wielding unknown sorcery, ripping through elite military platoons and tearing watchpoints apart in their search for-- something. Frenzied whispers of a rising force, a mysterious army growing in the shadows of gold-encrusted ruins.

It seemed that only those who had a gun to their hip and an army to their back would be safe. Ten-thousand credits is a small price to pay for your life.

Naveen chose New Loka, in the end, because they were relatively neutral. Besides their distaste for technology and Celphalons, the reserved Loka operatives were best known for their peaceful negotiation and reluctance to engage in direct conflict. Compared to the bloodthirsty platform of the Red Veil, or the single-minded curiosity of Cephalon Suda, the work of New Loka seemed tame: collecting wildlife samples and building settlements on Earth. Naveen won't deny that part of her choice wasn’t that the New Loka head, Amaryn, appeared sensible enough to consider her operative's lives before sending them on some risky deep-space excursion.

As a fresh initiate, Naveen didn't receive many assignments in her first months or so working with the syndicate. Much of her time was spent in the New Loka organization rooms, filing papers on plant specimens and chatting idly with other operatives while pretending to man an information line. Mostly the work was dull and short and uneventful-- except for once, when Naveen was overseeing communications lines for on-field operatives and there was suddenly a mid-mission call for "back-up, oh God, back-up," followed by a disturbing sequence of gasping and the wet sounds of blood. Naveen, thrown by the abruptness of the call, had looked at her supervisor in panic and the supervisor pushed her out of the way, pulling the scanner closer to the seat and making the necessary calls with the steadiness of one who has rehearsed this many times before.

Naveen asked her friend, a Bountiful-level operative by the name of Manju, what had happened on that mission a few weeks later. He gave her an odd look and told her something about Warframes and hellfire.

So when Naveen receives her first field mission a few months later, after finally rising to the rank of Humane, she's a little nervous. When she finds out that she is to be working with a Warframe on an infiltration operation-- she is understandably more uneasy.

Not that there is anything particularly unusual about Warframes, besides the typical inhuman strength and speed and their ability to murder indiscriminately. In the few months following the first Warframe's awakening, the Orokin warriors had become suddenly much more common, appearing at Relays occasionally and then, eventually, allying themselves with Syndicates out of some need for-- supplies, or technology, or something. Naveen's friends, working with the Perrin Sequence, had already told her of the contact they'd had with Warframes, chattering excitedly about their steady grace and their silent poise, the fine lines of their armor and the sleekness of their weapons. But none of them had worked with one directly.

Naveen almost tries to protest. This is her first field mission, she wants to say, there's no reason she should be working with high-profile operatives on an even higher-profile operation. But she knows that her database record, which boasts of her previous military experience as a wayward colonist, would stand against her. She isn’t eager to test the will of her superiors, especially during a time of such tension.

She is early to the Relay on the day of the mission. She walks, as she was instructed, directly up to Amaryn, who stands at the ritual pool as she always does. Amaryn looks over Naveen once, nodding courteously in greeting. Her face is covered with a New Loka visor matching Naveen's own, but for once, Naveen wishes that she could see Amaryn's expression. They stand in an awkward silence, waiting for the third member-- the Warframe-- to arrive.

It is Amaryn who notices the figure first, her stance shifting imperceptibly. It, presumably the Warframe, moves with a leisurely ease, immune to the apprehension that had seeped into Relays and between factions and friends. The frame is vaguely human-shaped, but has no skin or hair, covered entirely in smooth, refined armor. Naveen tries to avoid staring, but she can't pull her eyes away from the extravagant blue shimmer of the frame's torso, the blank curved plate that forms the creature's face, the sharp curves outlining the pistol and the rapier at its hip.

It's beautiful, Naveen thinks idly, while her brain files through all the different ways the Warframe could kill her without a batting an eye.

"Tenno." Amaryn clasps her hands behind her back, and Naveen is impressed by the calmness which the New Loka executive maintains, even in the face of a machine known for its bloody ruthlessness.

The Warframe-- Tenno?-- pauses, before bowing slowly, folding its arms behind its back in a sign of respect. Belatedly, Naveen notices the Warframe is wearing a cloak, deep blue and glittering with gold trim. She wonders if Warframes have a form of hierarchy based on uniform, or if they are simply vain.

\--

Amaryn rebriefs them via in-ear communicators while they are in transit to the mission location: "As I mentioned in previous meetings, there is a Corpus scout ship off the Cambria sector that appears to be preparing for landing on Earth. Your goal is to infiltrate the ship's database and find out what their plans are for the planet."

It's a simple spy-designation mission, and there's no reason for a high-level combat machine like a Warframe to be tagging along-- especially considering the target is a poorly armed scout ship. But when Naveen had asked Amaryn tentatively days before, the New Loka executive merely replied hat the Warframe had specifically requested to be placed on the mission.

The in-ear communicators also allow communication between Naveen and her mission partner, seeing as the Warframe doesn’t exactly have a mouth-- or a vocal system at all, now that Naveen thinks about it. It is a little surreal, to hear the Warframe's voice in her ear. It is light and floating and oddly human-like, considering the inorganic appearance of the figure.

The transport vessel lands quietly upon the underbelly of the Corpus ship, latching on to a maintenance hatch. The two operatives are dropped into a narrow hallway, dimly lit with the bland fluorescent lights the Corpus love so much, and the Warframe leaps up immediately with a lithe grace that makes Naveen feel uncomfortably bulky, despite being a full head shorter.

"Follow me."

Naveen learns quickly that the Warframe doesn’t speak much.

They make their way across the ship, following the Warframe's quiet directions-- the Warframe itself seems to be following its own internal map, because it makes every turn deliberately and only with slight pause. They pass glass rooms and plummeting staircases silently and quickly, ducking behind crates and into supply closets to avoid the occasional Corpus patrol. Once, they even slip into a surprisingly large air vent to cut across a mess hall filled with researchers. The Warframe keeps them hidden with surprising efficiency, expertly hacking terminals and sniping down surveillance turrets. Nonetheless, Naveen's heart is hammering out of her chest, anxious at the thought of being stranded at the heart of a ship full of enemies.

Nothing eventful happens until they begin to near the ship's central hub. The two reach a seemingly-unpassable section of hallway, which forms the bridge of the ship. There are at least twenty or so Corpus guards milling about, and Naveen sees no way to pass the room unnoticed.

"What do we do?" She is careful to whisper.

There is silence. She watches the Warframe with a nervous eye, unable to discern its expression from the blank expanse of its helmet.

"Stay back. Take out your gun."

Naveen barely has time to unlatch her standard-issue Boar before the Warframe pulls a rifle from its back-- a model Naveen doesn't recognize, with a silver trim and a stylized handle in the shape of some kind of flower-- and opens the door to the bridge. Immediately, the Warframe unloads one, two, three shots into the hall, expertly taking down a crowd of guards and sending the rest into a panic. A thin red line-- a ripline?-- bursts out of the Warframe's outstretched hand and impales itself into a huge shipping crate, jerking it towards the Warframe and tipping it, crushing the guards below who stood frozen in shock.

Naveen is so entranced and horrified watching the Warframe fight-- a terrific whirl of bullets and bursts of red energy throwing bloody bodies across the floor-- that she almost gets shot herself. Ducking under a spray of plasma lasers, she fires her gun haphazardly and tries not to get caught in the crossfire as she makes herself as insignificant as possible against the carnage that the Warframe wrecks with a single-minded grace.

The crowd of Corpus just begins to thin when a tinny blare fills the room. The security alarm-- one of the Corpus must have been able to activate it during the chaos. Naveen hears a muttered "Shit!" through her earpiece, and is so shocked at hearing the Warframe swear that she almost doesn't notice when it runs towards her, rolling under gunfire to grab her arm and grapple them across the hall into the next room. She stumbles, trying to keep up with the Warframe's long strides as it leads her through an endless maze of identical hallways, all while the security alarm wails above their heads and the shouts of Corpus guards echoes behind them.

"Where are we going?"

No answer.

Finally, after turning around what seems to be the millionth nondescript gray hallway, the Warframe pauses. Naveen looks up, panting, to see that they've arrived at some sort of control room, a darker chamber filled with monitors and a single security panel at its center. The thundering of Corpus guards running in panic is faded, only a slight thrumming of the ship's floors now.

The Warframe hands her a small chip, similar to the micro-datadrives that Naveen uses in the New Loka filing rooms.

"Plug this into the panel over there." It points to a smaller screen pressed up against the wall that Naveen hadn't noticed before. She obeys wordlessly, annoyed but too out-of-breath to respond.

The wall panel has a small port at its base, labeled with the tall, serifed letters of Corpus script. Naveen isn't sure that the chip will fit, until she notices that the standard-size metal head of the chip has been beaten, literally, into an odd shape that seems to slide if not effortlessly, then at least compliantly, into the wall port.

There is a moment of nothing, and then the security sirens cut off. Naveen is unnerved by the sudden silence, but the Warframe continues to tap at the central panel, unsurprised.

"How did it do that?"

Naveen doesn't expect an answer this time, and she doesn't get one, either.

Naveen busies herself with observing (completely without subtlety) the Warframe while it does... whatever it's doing. Compared to its unrestrained ferocity from before, the figure is certainly no less intimidating now, still standing at what Naveen would estimate as six feet tall, at least. The sleek rifle it wielded on the bridge is now holstered on its back, gleaming in the white Corpus lighting. The Warframe itself is all smooth lines, dark armor with sharp claws on its hands and feet, and an odd round fixture on its helmet that resembles a halo, only broken at its peak.

The door at the end of the control room slides open with a hiss, and Naveen pulls herself up from where she'd been leaning idly against the wall. She doesn't wait for the Warframe's flat "follow me" before she trails behind the figure, entering what is presumably the center of the ship. The frame gestures with its hands-- a finger to the would-be-mouth-- and Naveen nods, understanding the implication: High security. Be quiet.

For the heart of a Corpus ship potentially holding sensitive information, the area is almost entirely unguarded. The pair are greeted with blank walls and silent fluorescent lights, glowing threateningly from the high ceilings of the almost disturbingly clean offices and server rooms. The Warframe walks past multiple rows of data banks, seemingly looking for something in particular, and Naveen isn't sure how to ask it if she could be of assistance.

The frame finally stops before a complicated looking array of control panels and server screens, procuring another datadrive-like object from somewhere on its figure. Naveen idly wonders where the Warframe stores all these things, seeing as it carries no bags and does not visibly sport any pockets or storage compartments. The data-drive is inserted into an miniscule port on the control panel, and at first it seems nothing is happening.

There is an almost imperceptible shift in the air-- a slight twitch of the fingers-- Naveen is almost sure she imagined it. Something about the tension, the odd way the Warframe carried itself.

In an instant, security alarms are going off again, and Naveen almost wants to laugh at the  _ deja vu  _ of the situation, as the Warframe exclaims angrily into the comm line and lunges towards the hallway opposite of where they came from. Naveen scrambles to follow.

They only make it two doorways, this time, before the area is swarming with guards-- Exima, this time.  _ How did they not notice them before? Why were there Eximus-model soldiers stationed on on a measly scout ship?  _ The Warframe pulls out its gun, ready to open fire.

"Keep running!" Naveen stops at the words, turning to see the Warframe whirling around, preparing to defend her back as she moves. She's about to comply, confident in the Warframe's otherworldly combat skill, until she spots the devices in the Corpus crewmen's hands, like Castanas-- shining, and wholly un-Corpus in design--

"Stop right there, Tenno mutt!"

The Warframe lunges forwards, unsheathing its rapier with startling speed, but is caught immediately by the odd, Castana-like weapon, flung like a knife into the hallway. The device latches onto the Warframe's arm and suddenly, a sharp jolt of energy, dark and electric, arcs up the Warframe's figure, halting it in its tracks. The crewmen don't hesitate, and two, three more devices catch on the torso and legs of the frame, further causing its body to arc and convulse. Naveen is paralyzed where she is, watching in fear and dread as the Warframe is trapped and overtaken suddenly by a wave of Corpus guards.

She only dimly registers the unusually frantic shouting at the other end of her comm line.

The Warframe's knees hit the ground, and suddenly there is red, red, red-- an explosion of energy, and the Warframe is on its feet, circled by an aura of what Naveen can only describe as fury. It glows in its intensity, and the Corpus are thrown back in a ring by the force. There is screaming and chaos as the crewmen scramble to regain their dropped weapons and shoot at the flaming figure in their midst.

The bullets seem to pass right through it. The Warframe lashes out with long, prisma claws at the nearest crewmen-- tearing them apart effortlessly, splitting their skin and burning their flesh. Some of the crewmen pause in fear, yet others still march bravely towards the Warframe, brandishing their pulse rifles as if the Orokin soldier was merely an unruly dog. They are easily beheaded, spines splintered under the brunt the Warframe's blazing energy. The Warframe whirls like a dancer. And the Corpus around it fall, like the audience in a blood-soaked gallery.

It is over almost before it starts. The Corpus close enough to the Warframe have been shredded, and the ones far enough to run have already done so. There is nothing in the hallway but eviscerated armor and sizzling flesh, red pooling around the edges of Naveen's feet. She realizes absently that the security alarms are still going off.

And at the center, the Warframe, shoulders heaving silently, ghastly red fire licking at its claws and its chest and its halo. Black armor glistening with blood and the sparks of the mysterious Corpus devices. Watching the figure stand in a razed and sanguine hallway, Naveen remembers that the Warframes are known as the Orokin angels of Death. "Forebearers of the Void," her father called them.

The air is still for a moment, the only sound the dripping of blood. The red fury fades, melting from the Warframe's claws and its alert pose. Immediately, the sparks of the Corpus devices multiply, leaping across the Warframe's armor like ants swarming on a meal, and the lithe form shivers and crumples under a blaze of blue.

Naveen thinks she can hear yelling at the other end of her comm, but it's oddly muffled. She's freaking out a little bit, not only because there's a lot of blood and it's all over her and hanging in the air like a fine mist, but also because the Warframe is hurt, somehow, the Warframe-- wargod of the Void-- is on the ground and not moving and Naveen doesn't know enough about either the figure or the devices to know how to fix this. What if the Corpus soldiers come back? Naveen shudders. There's no way she'd be able to protect both herself and the Warframe at once.

She speaks slowly into the still hallway, but all she can hear over the voice comm is static.

Nervously, heart still pounding from the fight, Naveen steps closer to the Warframe and nudges it with her foot. The sparks have faded, but the Corpus devices still glow eerily and Naveen is certain they're still active. The Warframe doesn't move.

It's difficult to prop up a six-foot-tall, armored figure on her shoulder, but Naveen manages. The Warframe is surprisingly light, for something so solid and thoroughly plated with armor. She tries a fireman carry at first, but there's too much blood and the Warframe slips from her shoulders, almost clipping her with the Corpus device latched onto its chest. She doesn't want to risk touching those, so she staggers down the hallway, holding the Warframe under one of its arms while the other is draped over her shoulder.

The few minutes it takes to drag the limp Warframe down the hallway to the nearest server room almost kills Naveen. At one point the Warframe's rifle shifts and clinks against the armor, and she almost drops it in panic. If a Corpus platoon turned the corner now, Naveen would have no way to defend herself. Luckily, it seems that the Corpus aren't eager to return to the scene of carnage quite yet.

She leans the bloodied figure against the side of a server bank, turning and closing the door behind her. She can't read Corpus script (not very well, at least), but she taps around messily on the security panel besides the door until the screen flashes red, presumably locking down the door. Then, for good measure, she smashes the panel with the back of her gun. Naveen figures she won't be leaving the room for a while, and she needs anything she can get to prevent the Corpus from getting in.

The Warframe still hasn't moved. Nothing on the partner comm line either. Naveen carefully keys in the code for the Loka line, and waits as the static from her communicator resolves into voices.

"Operative Naveen? How is the mission going?"

Naveen is surprised to hear Amaryn's voice at the other end of the line. Usually mission calls were patrolled by mid-level Loka members, not the executive herself.  _ How important is this mission? Or is it the presence of the Warframe? _

"Executive! The Warframe. It-- I--" Naveen pauses to recompose herself. This is not the time to be stumbling over her words. "We are at the center of the ship. The Warframe has been, uh, incapacitated. It's not moving."

There’s a beat of silence.

"How did this happen? Where are you? Hold on, Operative. Our life support readings indicate that both of you are completely--"

The sound cuts out.

"Executive? Amaryn? Are you there?" Naveen frantically bends over her comm, pressing it closer to her ear. "Hello?" She's about to pull the comm out to inspect it closer when she hears a crackle behind her, coming from the direction of the Warframe's prone form.

She turns. There's a strange, static tension in the room, and she can feel the hairs on her nape stand up. Then, the very air before the slumped Warframe seems to split, with a noise that sounds like the gasping breath of an Infested beast. From the seam trembling a foot off the ground, a child steps out.

Naveen immediately holds up her Boar. "Who are you? How did you-- do that?" She is anxious and trapped and covered in blood, and she wants answers.

The child squints up at her, barely reaching Naveen's shoulder in height. The garb they are wearing is unrecognizable, a strange uniform bodysuit of dark colors and elaborate design. Their earthy skin and sharp eyes hold a slightly unreal quality, looking just strange enough to seem inhuman. The child clears their throat. Naveen notices they are unarmed-- not a gun or knife in sight-- and her fingers grip the Boar a little tighter.

"Please don't shoot."

The voice is what gives it away. It hangs the same way in the air, cold and melodic, as the one that has been whispering "follow me" and "run" in Naveen's ear for the last hour. She lowers the Boar slowly, shakily, shocked but suspicious. "Are you... the Warframe?"

The child doesn't break eye contact. "Yes. You can call me the Tenno."

Naveen pauses. Isn't that the same name Amaryn called them? She gestures almost accusingly at the crumpled Warframe (still covered in blood) behind the child-- the Tenno?. "But, wait. What is that, then? Is that your armor or something?"

The Tenno looks at her as if she had grown two heads. "I control the Warframe from my ship. It is a conduit for my energy."

"How--"

"It's not important." The Tenno cuts her off. They bend down, pressing fingers delicately against the neck of the limp Warframe. "Whatever weapon those Corpus crewmen had, it's done something to my Warframe. Disabled it, or something."

"Al-- Alright." Naveen's head is spinning. The Warframe-- ruthless killing machines of the Orokin Empire-- were children? Or was it just this one? The being before her cannot be older than twenty Sols, yet the way it looks at her is blank and far too emotionless for a teenager.

The Tenno is still squatting by their Warframe. "The Corpus must have found new allies-- that device is not Corpus design, and they shouldn't have access to that kind of technology anyway. We should extract. The security alarm is still active. The guards are probably still looking for us."

Naveen had completely forgotten about the alarm. The walls of the server room muffled it out.

"How are we going to get out? We can't just break down the door and charge into a ship crawling with alert Corpus."

The Tenno levels a look at Naveen which states that that was exactly what they were going to do.

"You're not even armed!"

The child stands up. "I'll be fine."

Naveen doesn't ask,  _ What about me?  _ She remembers the reports of Red Veil Operatives murdered on missions, left behind or just collateral damage for the brutal might of a Warframe.

The Tenno pauses, tilting its head as if listening to something. Only now does Naveen notice earpieces of unknown design, glittering oddly as the Tenno moves toward the door with soft steps.

"Wait! Hold on--" Naveen scrambles for her gun. The Tenno turns. "Before you... appeared. I was trying to call the New Loka comm line. It cut out. Do you have some kind of external line, or something? We need to get news of our situation to the Executive."

There is a pause as the Tenno stares at Naveen with flat eyes, before they blink. "Oh. The communication devices. Yours probably shorted out when I Transferred onto the ship."

Naveen waits. The Tenno does not elaborate, instead turning to examine the locked door.

"Don't worry. The Lotus is informing your Executive of our situation. What did you do to the door?"

"I locked and disabled it. Broke the panel." If the Tenno is going to be so tight-lipped, Naveen might as well cooperate.

The Tenno nods, stepping back as if making room for something, before charging at the door and punching. At least, it looked like punching. There’s a burst of gold light and when the spots in Naveen’s vision clear, the door has a meter-wide hole, lined with burnt metal and sizzling wires. The Tenno is unharmed, save for a gold mist lifting off their gloved hands.

The Tenno gingerly steps through the opening, and Naveen hurries to follow.

"What was that just then?"

The Tenno doesn't answer. Naveen looks carefully at the child's face and sees nothing, not even acknowledgment of what she's said. She doesn't press further. If the Tenno's might is to be feared within armor, then who knows what they might be capable without? The figure before her looks as if they could be knocked over with a heavy wind, but Naveen used to be just as short and she was certainly not a force to be reckoned with back then, either.

The Tenno leads Naveen slowly through the twisting corridors of the ship's central hub as the alarms blare overhead, pausing occasionally to make comments to the air-- "Yes. No. ... I'm not sure-- something Sentient, maybe? Yeah. How much further?"-- which Naveen presumees are directed at the voice on the other end of the Tenno's own earpieces. Suddenly, the Tenno freezes.

"What?" Naveen asks apprehensively. She watches with increasing panic as the Tenno, still silent, begins to shift into a defensive position. "What's happening?"

"Shh!" The Tenno is staring intensely down the empty hallway, as if waiting for something. "This is-- "

Before the Tenno can finish, the lights of the hallway flicker, and for a moment, the whole hallway is drowned in red. Naveen dimly registers the Tenno snarling out a curse as they grab her arm, shoving her behind a nearby storage crate and turning back towards the center of the hallway.

Naveen peeks out around the edge of the crate just in time to see a dark figure materialize at the end of the corridor, a burst of air whisking at her uniform. The form is nondescript and hard to make out in the flickering lighting, but clearly wielding weapons-- Naveen thinks she sees the outline of a huge blade protruding from behind its back. She watches the Tenno's expression sour out of the corner of her eye as a voice pours into her head, and the figure launches itself towards them like a shadow.

"Welcome to your reckoning, Tenno."

Naveen is not ashamed to admit she cowers behind that storage crate as the two clash. It is sudden, fierce, and wholly unnatural-- how the dark figure moves like dust, and how the Tenno strikes back with bright golden blows. From the way the Tenno had easily vaporized the server-room door only moments before, it seemed as if the battle should have been one-sided. But the dark figure holds its ground, matching the Tenno move-for-move with its extravagantly large greatsword.

The Tenno fights strangely, leaning too much into their jabs and underreaching their lunges, almost as if they’re used to fighting with stronger arms and longer legs. They compensate, though, through sheer power. Even from her narrow vantage point, Naveen can see the dark figure flinching at every landed blow, few as they are. And the Tenno fights dirty, too, disappearing in bursts of gold ash to reappear behind the enemy with glowing, crackling fists.

The two can’t have been fighting for more than a minute, but every second feels like an eternity. They move  _ so fast  _ , and Naveen is afraid to breathe, worried one of the two war-monsters might notice her behind the crate.

Suddenly, the Tenno missteps-- dashes just a little too far, and whirls around barely in time to block the greatsword falling like an executioner's axe, catching the hilt of the sword between their hands. There is a beat of silence as the Tenno and dark form watch each other, the Tenno's arms blazing in an effort to hold back the blade.

"What's happened to your armor,  _ Void-Walker  _ ?" The contempt in its voice is thick like syrup, indescribably heavy as the words are plucked from the air and dropped directly into Naveen's mind.

The Tenno says nothing, staring back with an eerily blank face as they strain against its arms.

"Oh, I recognize  _ you _ ." The figure bears down even harder on the Tenno's small frame. " _ Valkyr _ ," it spits, "King of the East Horn. Mania incarnate." Naveen can feel the twist of lips even without seeing the figure's face. "They say you struck down thirty Guardians before the ninth drumbeat had even faded away."

A flicker of something cold crosses the Tenno's expression, but they’re being overpowered. The burning energy filling their arms is beginning to fade, and Naveen watches in horror as the shadow-figure’s blade dips closer to the child's neck. Then the golden light winks out entirely, and there is a hiss of pain, and fire.

Bright, surging fire.

It fills the room and devours the air, scorching Naveen's skin and buffeting her face. It’s all she can do to stay on her feet, to stay crouched behind the iron crate whose surface is suddenly too hot to touch. The flames burst outward and dissipate, and in the bright light Naveen gets a good look at the new figure at the end of the corridor.

Wreathed in flames,  _ this  _ Warframe is decidedly unlike the one Naveen had begun her mission with. They were both humanoid in shape, but this one has a smoother outline -- curved yet refined, with reinforced armor on its thighs and forearms. The helmet is crested with mock plumage, and a cape (although blood red to the Tenno's deep blue) hangs loosely from its shoulders.

The dark figure had been blown back by the explosion, and now surges to its feet. "Reinforcements, Valkyr? That's unlike you."

The Tenno stands from where they had fallen, untouched by flame, and says nothing.

The figure doesn’t stand a chance against the combined might of the Tenno and the new Warframe. Even with its far-reaching sword, it is outpaced by the fiery bursts of the Warframe and the renewed onslaught of the Tenno. When the Warframe reaches behind its back to pull out a gleaming assault rifle, the battle is decided. A barrage of gunfire throws the dark form to the ground, unmoving.

The Warframe stalks towards the figure's crumpled form, pulling out a wicked-looking sword from its back. The figure makes an abortive movement that looks like an effort to stand, before raising its helmet to face the advancing figure.

"What a team you two make, Hysteria and Inferno. We will meet again."

The figure dissolves into dust just as the Warframe's sword plunges down. Instead, the blade glances off the Corpus ship flooring, and the Warframe straightens, biting out a curse that crackles with radio static. Naveen supposes the Warframes must have audio emitters installed somewhere within their odd armor.

The Warframe turns to face the Tenno, who is still standing a few feet away, staring at the floor where the figure had been and wiping blood off their chin.

"Shit. What happened to you?"

The Tenno looks up at the Warframe with a distasteful expression. "We need to go get my Warframe."

"Yeah sure, fine. Answer the question.”

A beat. “I had my Warframe disabled,  _ Inferno  _ .” The Tenno spits out the name like a curse, turning to head back down the hallway.

“That’s not what I meant--”

The Tenno does not respond and the Warframe does not press further. Naveen thinks for a second they might have forgotten her and clambers to her feet, checking that her Boar is properly holstered and moving towards the two regal figures (one tall and one not).

Bad move. The Warframe catches Naveen’s movement out of the corner of its eye and reacts, a searing light bursting from its hand which Naveen identifies with incredulity is a  _ fireball _ , flying right at her. She shouts and throws herself to the right, feeling the flame singe her uniform as it nearly misses her.

“Holy shit-- are you an operative?” Naveen doesn’t even have the chance to respond before it cuts her off, calling towards the back of the Tenno-- “Valkyr, you’re on a  _ syndicate mission _ ?”

The child pauses and turns around, blank eyes falling on Naveen with what she would imagine is probably surprise at her survival. “New Loka had the coordinates to the ship and wouldn’t let us on without sending one of their representatives. They thought it was carrying Corpus plans for Earth colonization.”

“And was it?” The two turn to face Naveen, whose skin still shivered from the encounter with the dark figure but who thought it was about time she reminded them of her (their) mission. “If you’ve-- If you’ve found any information pertaining to the Corpus on Earth--” Naveen tells herself that she is talking to a child and feels more confident (although it is still a child that can melt steel with their hands). “New Loka has a right to that data.”

There is a second of silence as the Warframe and Tenno stare at Naveen.

Then the Tenno speaks slowly, “The Lotus has a copy of all the ship’s data. She will send any relevant information to your Executive as soon as we extract.”

Naveen deflates, expecting resistance but relieved that there isn’t any. She follows awkwardly as the two begin down the hallway, watching warily as the Tenno retraces their steps. Before long, they have returned to the room where the Warframe sits propped up against a server bank with its silent gaze like the most expensive weapon-holster mannequin in the Solar System.

The Tenno immediately moves towards their motionless armor. “Can you carry it?”

It’s a beat before the tall Warframe replies. “Yes, of course-- What has gotten  _ into  _ you these days?” The Warframe leans down, and bites out a curse. “What are those?  _ Castanas  _ ?”

The Tenno makes a noncommittal grunt.

“Are they safe to touch?”

Silence, and the two must be listening to an external comms again because after a beat, the Warframe nods, hoisting up the limp shape up on its shoulder.

They make for a funny sight: A Loka operative, a Warframe, and a kid walking into a hostile Corpus ship-- it sounds like the beginning of one of those terrible jokes Naveen’s father used to tell. The Tenno leads the way, taking big, deliberate steps whenever the Warframe tries to catch up. She would call it petty if she hadn’t seen the Tenno hold back a greatsword with their bare hands. No one says anything-- the Tenno is tight-lipped as ever and the Warframe seems hesitant to ask the questions on its mind. They make their way through the ship unaccosted, Naveen following the two figures in silence while they twist through the maze of hallways that constitutes a ship in Corpus terms.

It’s in a maintenance corridor when Naveen finally speaks up. “Where are all the Corpus guards?”

The Tenno doesn’t say anything, but the Warframe does, and  _ thank the gods for that _ , Naveen thinks. Whatever silence act the child is putting up, it’s been grinding on her nerves for a while now.

“That’s a… good question.” A pause, and the crested helmet tilts to the side. “The Lotus says we should have encountered resistance by now--”

And with great timing, the security alarms blare to life. The whole corridor is washed in orange, and suddenly, the doors at the ends of the hallway slide shut, warning signs flashing on their panels. Which wouldn’t be much of a problem, except Naveen looks up and watches in horror as the Tenno, which had walked far ahead of the other two, disappears from view behind a closing door. The Warframe barely has the chance to yell out before a workbay hallway opens and Corpus crewmen begin to stream into the room, and the door is locked in yellow.

The Warframe bites back a curse, dropping the limp Warframe armor it had been carrying and hurriedly pulling out its rifle, throwing back the first few crewmen to breach the room with a shower of bloody rounds. Naveen draws her Boar.

Then she notices-- the shining, eerie blue of the devices from before, crackling and primed-- and shouts, “The-- The Castana traps! Don’t let them touch you!”

“Got it!” The Warframe fires a few more rounds haphazardly into the crowd of crewmen, barely rolling out of the way of a blue glint. Naveen tries to keep the Warframe between herself and the doorway the Corpus are streaming out of, but there’s so many-- so many more than she’s ever seen in one place-- and she stifles a shout as her shields go down and she’s hit with stray laser fire, tearing her operators’ suit and ripping sizzling gashes in her thigh. Naveen hates laser guns. All the damage of a real bullet but the wound cauterizes instantly and leaves spots behind her eyes.

She blinks clear her vision, and looks up in time to see the Warframe’s gilded hand grab her shoulder and wrench her roughly towards itself. It’s saying something, but Naveen can’t hear over the gunfire and the sirens and the burst of searing pain as another laser round rips through her elbow.

Naveen closes her eyes for a second, and the backs of her eyelids turn bright red.

When she can see again, the room is wrecked. Crates are blackened, MOAs lay crackling on the floor, and charred bodies fill the room, looking as if they’d been incinerated alive, still glowing with embers. She pushes herself away from the Warframe, relieved to find that she is unmarred save for laser fire on her arm and thigh. The Warframe looks untouched.

“You. You did that.” Naveen doesn’t think she’s surprised, but the vague feeling of shock knots in her chest and she can’t tear her eyes off the smoldering ( _ still warm _ ) corpses.

“Yeah. Ember.” The Warframe gestures to itself. “That’s my specialty.” And a burst of flame dances along the its torso, drawing a lazy figure-eight from its shoulders to the knives holstered at its hip.

Naveen considers her words carefully, and asks, “...Are you a kid too? Like the-- Like the other one.”

The Warframe nods, slowly, but before it can say any more (or maybe it wasn’t going to say anything), the sirens cut off abruptly and Naveen watches with dull surprise as the door blinks green and slides open, revealing the Tenno, who looks more confused than hurt or expended.

“What happened?”

“We were attacked,” the Warframe says, “You weren’t?”

The Tenno shakes their head.

After that, extraction is easy. They’re only a few corridors away from the extraction point, and the Corpus seem hesitant about sending in more reinforcements. They make it out easily enough, though in silence. The Tenno and Warframe have their own extraction ships, and Naveen watches blearily from the back of a New Loka vessel as the two shining ships-- small, but elegant and petal-shaped-- lift off and vanish in a burst of energy.

When she gets back to the New Loka base, feeling exhausted after the long ride and a well-applied med kit, she runs into Manju, who is loitering nervously by the relay entrance. His face lights up when he sees Naveen.

“You’re alive!”

Naveen reels as he pulls her into a hug, and she pats his back awkwardly.  _ Has he been waiting here the whole time _ ?

Manju pulls back. “I heard from Amaryn that something-- not terrible, exactly, but weird-- happened, and, well, you know how it is on these Warframe missions, and I was so worried you were dead or something! Eugh, you smell like dust.” He makes a face.

Naveen resists the urge to tell him it’s probably the ashes of burnt crewmen, and smiles weakly at his enthusiasm. She’s exhausted, and she can’t get the dark eyes of that wargod child out of her mind.

“Oh, but I’m sure you’re spent! You should let Amaryn know you’re still standing and then get some sleep.” Manju leads the way, cheerfully greeting operatives and traders in the main lobby as they move through the relay, as if he hadn’t been pacing nervously in front of the landing platform just a few minutes ago, worried for his friend’s life.

When they make their way into the New Loka sanctuary, Amaryn is waiting for them. 

“I’m so happy to see you safe and successful, operative,” the New Loka executive greets.

“Successful?”

Amaryn makes a contemplative face, caught between hesitation and understanding. “Yes. The Warframe, or should I say, Warframes, you worked with just had the Lotus send me a copy of the scout ship’s datafiles. There’s quite a lot there, but we have a team working right now to decode and analyze it. We’ll know what the Corpus are up to by the end of the day.” She smiles in that serene way of the New Loka. “And it’s all thanks to you.”

“Oh. Thank you, Executive.”

After a nervous pause, Naveen starts, “If it’s alright, I’d like to not be assigned on missions with Warframes from now on.”

The Executive gives her a funny look. But she nods, and Naveen holds in a sigh of relief.

"That bad, huh?" Manju asks as they make their way back to the New Loka dormitories.

"You have no idea."

**Author's Note:**

> not gonna lie this was super fun to write. i might do a multi-chapter novelization fic with these characters again, we will see :)


End file.
